Instant Hangout

It's 6 p.m., and since the tail end of summer still holds out the bounty of time, Christina Nieves slips in front of her computer and taps into her niche in cyberspace.

From a box on the screen, she can tell that a couple of buddies already are online.

During the school year, the 13-year-old explains, "what with homework, rehearsals and dinner," she rarely begins "IMing" before 8 or 9 o'clock.

But now the messages are flying, as quickly as Christina and friend can snap them out.

"hi ashley!!"

"hi!"

"what are you doing??"

"nothing, talking to my friend from camp and Tsoi and reading my mail, but that's about it."

"six more days!!!"

"i know, im so excited!!"

"we have ms. Salette 6th period!!"

"we do? my schedule got messed up like Shauna's, but now u cleared it up for me, kewl!!

Welcome to new speak, otherwise known as instant messaging, the quicksilver communication tool that allows one online individual to "talk" in real time with another. It's the latest craze of, or rather co-option by, teen America, the generation that grew up teething on keyboards.

"Sometimes we talk about nothing at all, sometimes it's just hello, hi, yeah, yeah, yeah. Other times, it's a way to spread the word about things that have happened, like if a friend broke up with her boyfriend or a friend is moving," says JaeAnn Huh, a 13-year-old Californian who used the trendy technology to keep in touch with friends while she visited an aunt in Fort Lauderdale this summer.

"We can see it is clearly a social phenomenon for teens," says America Online spokeswoman Caroline Teasdale

AOL pioneered and popularized the technology for instant messaging in 1989, and in 1996 launched the buddy list, which signals when a friend is online.

"Most of these kids have no typing skills," says Gloria Nieves, marveling at the facility with which her daughter, Christina, and friends manipulate the millennium-bridging technology.

"We just got our [class] schedules," says Christina, who lives in Pembroke Pines but attends Parkway Middle School, a magnet school for the performing arts in Fort Lauderdale. "It's what everybody's talking about now [online], who's in what class."

Christina has 91 entries on her buddy list, friends and family members whose names pop up on her screen automatically whenever they go online.

She selects a name, types a message, presses send and the gabfest begins in real time. The immediate give-and-take distinguishes this from e-mail (which isn't dependent on the receiver being online).The IM chatter ends when one party or the other goes offline.

"It's a lot easier than talking on the phone," says Christina's friend Jamie Mattocks, 13, "because you can talk to a lot more people."

Each friend is addressed in a separate window, unless, of course, all agree to go into a buddy chat room where all comments are displayed. Switching among several windows at once is a breeze for today's youths.

"This is something that sets this generation apart -- their affinity for technology," says Michael Wood, vice president of Teenage Research Unlimited, a market research firm specializing in teens. "When they get in front of a monitor or sit at a keyboard, they feel empowered to be there."

Typically, Christina and Jamie IM while checking their e-mail or surfing the Web.

Teens with second phone lines may talk on the telephone at the same time.

Says Wood, "Teens are incredible multitaskers." Back in their rooms, Wood notes, they'll watch MTV, do homework, talk on the phone, read e-mail and IM, all at the same time.

"And watch out," he warns, for they'll still complain "of being bored."

Indeed, check out this evening's running dialogue between Christina and Ashley:

"did you go school shopping yet?"

"kinda, I got a couple of new outfits and my sis got 5 new shirts, so i can steal them! did u?"

"hehe yeah I'm so bored, I want to start school already."

"me2!!i hate not doing stuff during the day!"

"Yeah, even when jamie's here we didn't' do anything!! but we were bored together!!"

Because of the time zone difference between California and Florida, JaeAnn this summer was IMing friends at 3 in the morning, though the peak time for most teen messaging activity, says AOL, is 5 to 7 p.m.

A survey by Teenage Research Unlimited found that among teens who go online, instant messaging has greater appeal among girls (46 percent) than boys (38 percent).

Corey Snodgrass of Fort Lauderdale spends at least an hour a day conversing in real time in cyberspace. The 17-year-old has 100 names on his buddy list.

"We just talk about what we're going to do later, what's going on in town."

He'll often chat late at night, especially after a party or a concert. He'll hit the keyboard to talk about the bash or critique the performance with friends who were or were not there.

"You can't [telephone friends] then because it's late at night and you'd wake up other people in the house," he says.